Let America Be America Again

[pat_k]

America never was America to me
And yet I swear this oath—
America will be!
-- Langton Hughes
(Let America Be America Again)

Now more than ever, keeping our vision of the America we can be must be front and center. Our aspirations, our hope, our faith inspires the action needed to take us there. We have grievances, but we cannot lose ourselves in them or give in to immobilizing cynicism.

If you are in need of a pep talk, you'll find it in Tim Miller's interview with Cory Booker. He quotes Langston Hughes, which inspired me to revisit the poem. It's even more powerful than I remember.

Excerpt (rough transcript)

My parents came up in a time where the laws of this nation denied them equal dignity and equal rights. Literally, my parents were stopped from buying the house that I grew up in, based upon this legacy of housing discrimination in this country. Understand this. My parents and my grandparents believed in this nation. Believed in it. And the values that Donald Trump is trashing. Even when this country didn't believe in them. They loved this nation even when this nation didn't love them back. And that's the tradition we have to call on right now. The tradition that made LGBTQ Americans fight to make America live up to it's promise, or hope. Or women. Or immigrants. Catholics back in the time there was an entire political party called the Know Nothings. This is a time I can't surrender to cynicism about America. I can't allow the demagoguery that echoes the past, from Father Coughlin to McCarthyism, Japanese internment, the turning away of the St. Louis, that brought holocaust survivors. All of these are wretched dark corners of our history, but people didn't give up on believing in who we are. As the great poet Langston Hughes said, "America never was America to me, but I swear this oath. America will be."



This is that kind of conviction that's needed. And I refuse to stop believing in us. Just because we have a demagogic leader who is such an affront to the values I think this country most adheres to -- this is the time that we should be speaking and affirming with even greater conviction of who we are. And fighting against the forces that have been there since our begining that seem to want to undermine the highest ideals and values of our nation (continues from about 16:50.)